Ore-classifier.



0. M. KUGHS.

ORE OLASSII'IEB.

APPLIOATIOI nnsn 253.113.1909.

Patented July 6, 1909.

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WITNESSES A TTORNE Y.

III Ill 0. M. KUOHS.

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APIPLIOATIOR FILED I'EB. 23,1909.

927,059. Patented July 6, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

IN VEN TOR.

A TTORNE Y.

UNITED s TEs PA E T OFFICE.

OSCAR MAX KUCHS, OF ANACONDA, MONTANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO FREDERICK LAIST, OF ANAOONDA, MONTANA.

ORE-CLASSIFIER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed February 23, 1909. Serial No. 479,418.

Patented July 0, 1909.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OscAR MAX KUons, a citizen of the United States, residing at Anaconda, in the county of Deerlodge and Stata consists in the novel construction of classifier more fully set forth in the specification and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a combined vertical middle longitudinal section and part 'elevationof my invention; Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 is a detail section on the line i4 of Fig. 2 along the plane of the securing flange of the hopper carried by the outer casing; and Fig. 5 is a sectional detail on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3 showing the spacing block for the separated flanges of contiguous sections of the outer rotatable drum.

The present invention is particularly directed to the classification of the constituents of ore slimes, a by-product of the concentration of ores, composed of extremely small particles of respectively crystalline and amorphous or colloidal materials. The crystalline or sandy component is of course, derived from the wall rock and vein filling of the mine, the amorphous component resulting both from the weathering of the wall rock and vein filling, and from chemical decomposition of these same materials in the mill. The crystalline particles form the coarser constituent and are of sizes ranging up to 150 mesh, being composed chiefly of quartz, silicates, carbonates, oxids of metals, and the like, and metalliferous minerals which carry the values to be extracted. The colloid or amorphous constituent is chiefly composed of clay, talc, hydrated silica, h drated iron oxids, and in fact, any substance capable of existing in a colloidal state under millin conditions. The diameters of these partic es are in the neighborhood of .005 mm. The sand particles are perfectly independent of one another, being free to move without interfering with one another, whereas the colloidal particles not only interfere ditions resemble glue.

with each other but with the sand particles as well; the crystalline material w en thickened to a paste has the character of wetted sand, whereas the colloids under similar con- The colloids tend to remain in suspension in water indefinitely whereas the sands settle'rapidly leaving a clear liquid above. Upon separation from the sands the colloids become floccule'nt. The addition of an electrolyte to the slime or the application of heat has the effect of coagulating and precipitating the colloids as flakes which tend to settle rapidly, whereas the sands remain unaffected as long as their chemical structure is not attacked. Since the colloids of the slimes tend to remain in suspension, it is obvious that they carry away with them considerable amount of the crystalline sands, in leaving the mill, any settling of these sands being out of question as long as they remain associated with the colloids, and for this reason slime has heretofore eluded concentration.

It is the ob'ect thereforeof my present invention to e ect a centrifugal separation of these slime components, at the same time grading the sandy particles thus separated and making them amenable to prevailing methods of concentration on tables, vanners and similar gravity concentrating machines. The fiocculent precipitate of the colloid constituent may be conducted to the tailings dump, or may be altogether ignored owing to the low values which it would generally carry. i

A further object of my invention is to construct a machine by which the slirnes may be treated efficiently, economically and continuously, the classified sandy product or constituent being constantly discharged so as to be constantly conducted by suitable launders to any availableconcentrating machine.

A further object is to construct a machine having a high capacity and yet entailing a low cost of maintenance; one not necessitating frequent stops or repairs.

The advantages of my invention will be I spectively, each compartment being provided with a discharge hopper T, T, T, or T, to the mouths of which are secured the hollow discharge plugs U, U, U and U Mounted centrally within the casing is an inner rotatable drum D to the heads or closed ends of which are secured the tubes or hollow trunnions F, F, the tube F being continuous with the feed pipe Z and with which it communicates through the medium of the stuffing box Z. Secured to the trunnion F is a belt pulley N leading to a line shaft (not shown). The inner ends of the trunnions or tubes F F form supports for the terminal hubs or bearings J, J of an outer drum 0 inclosing the inner drum and freely rotatable about the same. The hubs J, J are rovided with stuffing boxes K, K ofany we 1 known and approved construction. The tube F passes through a stuffing box R and bearing in the head of the casing B; and at the feed end the tube F passes through the extension a of the hub J, said extension or hollow shaft a passing through a stufling-box Q and bearing P in the head of the casing B, and its terminal having keyed thereto a beltpulley O of somewhat larger'diameter than the pulley N, both pulleys being belted to pulleys of equal diameter on the line shaft (not shown), whereby the pulley O and hence the outer drum 0 which it rotates, will rotate at a lower rate of speed than the inner drum D.

The outer drum C is built up of sections, two sections coming together within the compartments of the casing B, the planes of division between the sections passing through the mouths of the hoppers T, T, T, T. The adjacent ends of two meeting sections of said outer drum are formed into pairs of converging flanges L, L, L, L the edges of the flanges being spaced apart by circumferential slits d which are continuous about the drum except at points where the flanges are secured together through the spacing blocks or formations M, (Fig. 5). These converging flanges L, L, L, L thus form a series of circumferential pockets about the outer drum, said pockets having converging walls separated by discharge slits d. The outer drum is both longer, and of larger diameter than the inner drum D, the space between the peripheral and terminal walls of the two drums being formed into a series of channels 0 by a series of longitudinally and radially disposed wings or baflles 8 secured along the outer walls of the inner drum D and terminating at the inner ends of the tubes F, F. The walls of the tubes F, F, between the baflfles are provided with openings 9, 9 respectively for the passage of the slime or pulp therethrough into and out of the channels c, said baffles serving to maintain the speed of rotation of the pulp and preventing any swirling.

trated but to which no reference is made are e of common knowledge and hence are not entered into in the present description.

The operation of the classifier may be described as follows :Rotation in a given and same direction is imparted to the drums C, D, through the belt-pulleys O, N, respec tively, the inner drum revolving the faster and making approximately revolutions to 79 revolutions of the outer drum. These drums of course, rotate about a common axis, and may be jointly considered as a centrifuge composed of two sections or drums spaced a suitable distance apart and rotating at different rates of speed. As the slime water or pulp is fed through the tube or trunnion F it passes through the openings 9 thereof into the respective channels a between the baffies or deflectors 8 finally escaping through the openings 9 of the trunnion F into said trunnion, in the form of waste or colloid water as presently to be seen. During the rotation of the centrifuge (drums C, D) hydraulic water is constantly being discharged through the pipes VV, W, etc. into the respective compartments of the outer casing, which are kept full of water at a pressure slightly in excess of that exerted against the inner wall of the outer drum C as a result of the centrifugal action, so that there is a slight differential pressure exerted against the outer wall of the outer drum by the hydraulic water in the several compartments of the casing B. The result is that there will be a tendency for the hydraulic water to flow into the channels 0 between the drums through the slits d of the circumferential pockets formed by the flanges L, L, etc. The slime water flowing through the channels 0 between the drums and baffles 8 is caught by the latter and made to rotate with the drums. In this combined-longitudinal and rotary movement of the slime water the sands or concentrates settle out of it, being projected against the inner wall of the outer drum proper, and against the inner walls of the circumferential pockets formed by the converging flanges L, L, etc., the coarsest sands which settle most rapidly being drop ed near the feed end of the machine, the est nearest the discharge end, and intermediate grades at points intermediate these two extremes. In this way there re-' sults a gradation in size of the sands deposited, each pocket being identified with a water and the drum C. The sands having specific grade of sands thus classified. The s 1 me water by the time it reaches the open water as waste.

The sands which settle against the inner wall of the outer drum between the pockets would in time tend to form accretionswhich would materially interfere with the free fiow of the slime water through the space between the drums, and thus interfere with the operation of the machine. By reason however, of the'differential in the speeds of rotation between the drums, the baflles 8 will constantly scrape the inner surface of the outer drum and thus prevent the formation of theaccretions referred to. The sand is thus loosened and carried along by the current traversing the channels 0. Of course, the parts of the machine must be so proportioned and the width of the annular space between the drums must be such that the velocity of the slime water passing through the channels a will swee along al the precipitated sands and yet a low the finest sands to settle. The coarsest sands or those particles falling adacent to the feed end of the machine are rolled along or transported with the longitudinally moving current along the inner wall of the outer drum until they reach the pocket L into which they fall. In the same way the progressively finer sands are carried along and fall into their respective pockets L, L, L so that each ocket receives its s ecifically graded san product. The sands t 111s precipitated into the several pockets now pass out of the centrifuge through the slits d into the body of hydraulic water filling the outer casing B, or more properly speaking, the several compartments of said casing formed by the artition walls S, S, S, S If the hydrau ic water pressure outside the centrifuge is great enough, water will be running into it through the slits d,- and through this water the sands must pass or settle, on the same principle as fallingfparticles of sand settle in a rising water current in gravity classifiers. With the present arrangement, however, it will be seen that no water is thrown out by the rotating centrifuge at the periphery, and that sand alone is discharged, thus resulting in a minimum loss of power in this direction. A part of this energy is utilized in that as the sands fly off tangentially they cause the water outside the centrifuge to rotate with it, thus reducing the friction between the passed out of the slits cl into the water of the outer casing B settle into the respective hoppers T, T, etc. and are discharged through the open plugs U, U, etc., whence, raded in the manner described they are de ivered into launders 3, 3, and conducted to any suitable gravity concentrators.

From the foregoing it is apparent that there must necessarily result three final classes of material, viz., (a) waste colloids or centrifugal tailings, discharged from the discharge-trunnion F of the machine with water from which the sands have separated; (b) table tailings which result from the concentration of the classified sands; and (c) concentrates resulting from" the concentration of the classified sands. Obviously the machine need not necessarily be restricted to the classification of slimes, but may treat any ore pulp susceptible of classification and concentration.

It Ina be stated in passing that the discharge t rough the slits cl into the settling chambers of the casing B being in planes parallel to the plane of rotation of the centrifuge, and at right angles to the axis of the drums contributes to reduce the friction between the outer drum and the water in the casing B.

Having described'my invention, what I claim is 1. In a classifier, a centrifuge comprising a pair of concentric drums spaced a suitable distance apart, means for rotating the same at different speeds, means for conducting the pulp in indlvidual currents through said space from one end of the centrifuge to the opposite end, the walls of the outer drum being provided with pockets having slits for the discharge of the classified material, said pockets being disposed along the path of travel of the individual currents aforesaid, and-an outer casing for receiving the material discharged through the slits of the pockets aforesaid.

2. In a classifier, a centrifuge comprising .a pair of concentric drums spaced a suitable casing for receiving the material discharged 7 from the pockets.

3. In a classifier, a centrifuge comprising a pair of concentric drums spaced a suitable distance apart, means for imparting to the inner drum a s eed of rotation slightly in excess ofthat of the outer drum, a series 0 baflies disposed longitudinally of the drums carried by the outer wall of the inner drum, the walls of the outer drum being provided with ockets having slits for the discharge of the c assified material, said pockets being one end of the centrifuge to the opposite end,

the Walls of the outer drum being provided at oints between the ends of the centrifuge wit pockets having discharge openings, the currents aforesaid flowing past said pockets,

and an outer casing for receiving the mate rial discharged from the pockets.

5. In a classifier, a centrifuge comprising a pair of concentric drums rotatable about a common axis, and spaced a suitable distance apart, means for conducting the pulp through said space from one end of the centrifuge to the opposite end, the walls of the outer drum n being provided at points between the ends ,ing

of the centrifuge with pockets having discharge openings, the currents aforesaid flow- "receiving the material discharged from the pockets, and means for maintaining in the ast said pockets, an outer casing for 7 and in oppositlon to the centrifugal force developed in the rotation of the centrifuge.

6. A classifier comprising a centrifuge composed of a pair of rotatable concentric drums s aced a suitable distance apart, a series 0 baffles disposed longitudinally of the drums carried by the outerwall of the inner drum, a series of circumferential pockets being formed on the outer drum and terminating in slits for the discharge of the classified material, an outer stationary casing supporting the drum and provided with com partments encom assing the outer drum and receiving the discharges from the slits aforesaid, a discharge mouth being provided for each compartment, and waterfeed pipes leading into the several compartmentsaiid discharginghydraulicwaterthereintoslightly in excess of and in opposition to the centrifugal force developed in the rotation'of the drums. l

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in presence of two Witnesses.

OSCAR MAX KUOHS.

Witnesses:

HARRY STEWART WARE, Louis VERNIOE BENDER. 

